Gulab Jamun- from Scratch

Gulab Jamun is my favorite dessert. Any festival, it will always be there. I make it with the box mix which worked fine for me so never really thought about trying from scratch. It is because of the South vs North Challenge started by Divya Pramil, I tried it today. I belong to the southern team, as you all know I am from South.I hope you all know about this challenge, for those who doesn't know click here, for more information.  Pallavi  of Northern Team challenged us with Gulab Jamun while Yashodha of our Team challenged the North Team with Adhirasam. 

Today I attempted to make Gulab Jamun, the first attempt, I didn't know what went wrong it was a disaster. See the below picture for my attempt to save that disaster.

After that I just wanted to give up but suddenly remembered seeing Gulab Jamun in Sangeetha's space. So decided to give one final try. This time it was a huge success, the shape, the color, the texture and the taste everything scored A+. Glad that I didn't give up. 

Recipe Source:Spicy Treats

What are the ingredients needed?

For Jamuns

Milk Mawa Powder, 1 cup

All purpose flour, 1/2 cup

Baking Soda, 1/4 teaspoon

Unsalted Butter (Room temperature), 2 tablespoon

Milk, to make dough (around 6 tablespoons approximately)

Oil for deep frying

For the syrup

Sugar, 2 cups

Water,2 cups

Cardamom, 3-4 crushed

Rose essence, few drops (optional)

How it is made?

1. In a mixing bowl, combine Milk mawa powder, all purpose flour and baking soda. 
2. Then add the butter and mix well. Then add milk little by little and keep kneading till a smooth dough is formed. Let it rest for half an hour. 
3. Then equally divide the dough and grease the hands with butter and roll them into balls.
4. Mean while, prepare the sugar syrup. Add the sugar and water together and boil it for few minutes, then add the crushed cardamom and boil for some more time and turn off the heat. Add few drops of rose essence, if you need and mix well.
5. Now deep fry the dough balls in medium heat  till they turn golden brown color. Keep turning the jamuns in the oil, to attain uniform color through out. 
6. Remove from the oil and drain in the paper towel. Finish frying all the jamuns. 
7. When the syrup is still warm, add the fried jamuns and let it soak for atleast 2- 3 hours. 
8. Serve the soaked Jamuns either warm or chilled depending on your preference.

For the size I made(smaller compared to the usual size), it yielded 36 Jamuns.

Note:

• If you do not have milk mawa powder, you can use regular milk powder too.
• Add just the right enough milk to knead. Add the milk little by little(one  tablespoon at a time) The dough should be soft, smooth but not sticking in the hand.
• The temperature of oil is very important, if it is too hot then the jamuns will burn when the inside is still uncooked. So keep a check on the temperature while adding every new batch.
• You can also garnish it with pistachios, almonds or shredded coconut to make it more interesting.

This is off to the South vs North Challenge.